The Walt Disney Company and ABC have escalated their increasingly bitter fight with the Federal Communications Commission, filing a federal lawsuit that accuses the FCC and the Trump administration of retaliating against the network for its programming and political speech.
ABC, Disney, and eight ABC-owned television stations filed suit Tuesday seeking to halt the FCC’s early review of the stations’ broadcast licenses. The company claims the government’s actions violate the First Amendment and pose an “existential threat” to ABC.
The FCC ordered the eight stations to apply for license renewal years ahead of schedule in April. The affected stations operate in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Philadelphia, Houston, San Francisco, Fresno, and Durham, North Carolina. Their licenses ordinarily would not have been up for renewal until between 2028 and 2031.
Disney’s lawsuit argues that the accelerated process is not a legitimate regulatory proceeding but part of a broader effort to punish ABC over programming disliked by President Donald Trump and his administration.
READ: Jerry Bruckheimer Confirms Talks With Johnny Depp for ‘Pirates of the Caribbean 6’
According to the lawsuit, ABC believes the only alternative to judicial intervention would effectively be “total capitulation” to demands coming from the administration. Disney is asking the court to prevent the FCC from taking further action against the stations in connection with the accelerated renewal applications.
Disney Points to Jimmy Kimmel and The View
Disney’s case relies heavily on the increasingly hostile relationship between the administration and ABC.
President Trump has repeatedly criticized ABC late-night host Jimmy Kimmel, while FCC Chairman Brendan Carr has previously warned ABC and its affiliates about Kimmel’s programming.
The lawsuit specifically cites Carr’s comments during the September 2025 Kimmel controversy, when the FCC chairman suggested broadcasters could address the situation themselves or face additional scrutiny from the commission. At the time, Kimmel was under fire for spreading misinformation about the alleged killer of Charlie Kirk.
Jimmy Kimmel Crying – YouTube, Jimmy Kimmel Live!
More recently, Trump and First Lady Melania Trump called for ABC to fire Kimmel following a joke in which Kimmel described the first lady as having the “glow of an expectant widow.” Kimmel later said the joke referred to the age difference between the president and first lady rather than violence against Trump.
ABC is also fighting the FCC over The View.
Carr has questioned whether the daytime program should continue receiving an exemption from federal political equal-time requirements as a “bona fide news program.” ABC argues that The View received such an exemption more than two decades ago and that changing the standard now could chill political speech.
JD Vance on The View – YouTube, The View
Taken together, Disney argues those disputes demonstrate that the FCC’s license proceedings are really about ABC’s editorial content.
But there is another side to the timeline.
The FCC Investigation Predates the Latest Kimmel Fight
While Disney is portraying the accelerated license renewals as part of a retaliatory campaign, the FCC’s investigation into Disney did not originate with Kimmel’s latest controversy.
In fact, FCC records show the investigation stretches back to March 2025.
Carr said he asked the FCC’s Enforcement Bureau on March 27, 2025, to investigate whether Disney was complying with federal Equal Employment Opportunity requirements. The probe concerned reports and allegations that Disney may have used race, gender, or other protected characteristics in employment decisions.
The Enforcement Bureau then issued Disney a formal letter of inquiry in June 2025, months before the April 2026 dispute involving Kimmel.
Jimmy Kimmel jokes that Melania Trump has a “glow like an expected widow” on his show days before an attempt was made on President Trump’s life – YouTube, SkyNews Australia
READ: Star Wars Zero Company Anakin Skywalker Looks More Like Matt Lanter Than Hayden Christensen
The FCC’s April 28, 2026 order directing Disney to seek early renewals explicitly said the agency had already been investigating ABC stations for potential violations of the Communications Act and FCC rules, including rules prohibiting unlawful discrimination.
The commission subsequently said it was examining whether Disney and ABC had impermissibly considered race, gender, or other protected characteristics when hiring, promoting, compensating employees, or providing workplace opportunities.
That does not automatically disprove Disney’s retaliation argument. The company can still argue that an existing investigation was later weaponized or escalated because of ABC’s protected speech.
But it complicates any suggestion that the underlying DEI investigation itself suddenly appeared because President Trump became angry at Jimmy Kimmel.
FCC Says Disney Must Answer the Allegations
The FCC is showing no sign of backing down.
Responding to Disney’s lawsuit, the commission said broadcasters receiving licenses to use the public airwaves have legal obligations to operate in the public interest.
The agency also stressed that it has been investigating allegations of unlawful discrimination at Disney for more than a year and accused the company of attempting to derail that proceeding through litigation.
FCC Chair Brendan Carr testifies before House subcommittee – CBS News, YouTube
Carr has previously defended the commission’s authority to examine broadcasters because television stations receive access to public airwaves in exchange for meeting federal public-interest obligations. He has also opened or pursued scrutiny involving other major broadcast networks, including CBS and NBC.
FCC Commissioner Anna Gomez, the commission’s sole Democrat, has taken the opposite position and praised Disney for fighting the government in court. Gomez has accused the FCC majority of using broadcast licenses as leverage against media companies over speech disliked by the administration.
Disney and the FCC Are Headed for a Major First Amendment Battle
This lawsuit now sets up a potentially significant showdown over where legitimate government oversight of broadcasters ends and unconstitutional government retaliation begins.
Disney has plenty of evidence that President Trump dislikes ABC’s political coverage, Kimmel, and The View. Carr’s own public statements regarding Kimmel will undoubtedly feature heavily in the company’s argument that federal regulatory power has become intertwined with political pressure.
At the same time, the FCC has a documentary record showing that its investigation into Disney’s employment and DEI practices began in March 2025, well before any specific Kimmel or The View dispute.
That makes the central question far more complicated than whether Disney or President Trump likes what Jimmy Kimmel says on television.
President Donald Trump in a 2020 interview – 60 Minutes, YouTube
Disney will effectively have to convince a federal court that the government crossed the line from investigating alleged regulatory violations into using those proceedings as a weapon against disfavored speech.
The FCC, meanwhile, will have to demonstrate that its unprecedentedly early scrutiny of some of the most valuable television licenses in the country is genuinely rooted in enforcement of federal law rather than the political anger repeatedly expressed toward ABC by the administration.
Either way, Disney has now chosen confrontation rather than compliance, and a simmering political battle over Jimmy Kimmel, The View, DEI, and ABC’s coverage has exploded into a federal constitutional fight with potentially enormous consequences for the network — and for every broadcaster regulated by the FCC.
Who do you think will win this battle between Disney and the FCC? Sound off and let us know!
UP NEXT: Bob Iger Honored as “Chief Architect” of Disneyland Despite Decade of Creative, Economic Stagnation
